As we move deeper into Spring of 2009 I thought it might be useful, as the NAR discusses April sales figures nationally, to jump ahead on this last business day in May and take a look at May housing performance as compared May of 2008.
Starting in the Five Points/University section of town, we saw the same number of residential properties sold this May versus last. The only difference in sales figures is that sales were down roughly 8 percent over May a year ago in terms of dollars of real estate sold. Does this mean that prices were down? Not necessarily. Different segments or price ranges may have sold over those a year ago. 
Other than this one bright spot in the “Classic City,” numbers of residential homes and volume of dollars sold were down 30-50 percent depending on whether you look at West Athens, East Athens, or the North side of town. Numbers of sales and dollar volume of homes sold was roughly equal suggesting that prices are not dropping per se, just numbers of units sold.
Oconee County, Ga saw similar decreases in sales volume for May 2009 overall. The bright spots were South Oconee, Ga which had an equal number of residential homes sold this May versus last, and West (per MLS definition) or “North” Oconee which had just missed May 2008 sales figures by one home.
In outlying areas in our service district, Madison and Jackson counties lagged well behind May 2008 sales figures, but Oglethorpe County, Ga had a “boom” going on with an 80 percent increase on numbers of residential homes sold this May while the dollar figure of homes sold increased by a mind blowing 262 percent! Barrow County, Ga also saw increases as well though not in line with Oglethorpe County. Barrow had an increase in numbers of homes sold by almost 20 percent while the volume of dollars increased by 14 percent in this May.
Overall in our entire service area, encompassing the Athens MLS, we saw a monthly increase in sales in price points from $70,000-$99,999 and $160,000-$179,999.
On the Mortgage Rate front, they eased upward last week. While still under 5% for a 30 year fixed rate mortgage, Freddie Mac in their weekly survey suggested that Bond Yield’s are putting upward pressure on mortgage rates. They will not stay this low forever!
If you are a buyer in our market, these are probably the best buying conditions in 30 years! If you would like to search the Athens MLS please take a look at listings in our “Classic City” today! On this web MLS search solution you can search every listing on the Georgia MLS for the Greater Athens area or in your Georgia town!
